Ep. 15 - How to Pray and The North American Week of Prayer with Scott DeGroff
Episode Transcript
Ep. 15 - How to Pray and the North American Week of Prayer with Scott DeGroff
[00:00:00] JC Schroeder: Hello friends. Do you ever struggle with prayer? Or your relationship with the Lord? Well, then you're going to really appreciate today's episode. My good friend, Scott DeGroff joins me. And we talk about how to pray as well as the upcoming North American Week of Prayer. I think you're really going to love Scott's love, heart, and passion for the Lord and the church. I'm JC Schroeder. And welcome to Bite Size Seminary.
[00:00:40] Introduction
[00:00:40] JC Schroeder: All right, so, uh, we're just so excited to have my good friend, Scott DeGroff, here with us today. And he's just a really good friend been in ministry for a long time and has a lot of experience in ministry. And I think just his heart has been for the church, for North America and to see the church grow [00:01:00] and for the church to flourish, and and following the Lord. So, just so thankful for having you on Scott and welcome.
[00:01:07] Scott DeGroff: Yeah, thank you. It's a real treat to be here with you, JC. I've been looking forward to this.
[00:01:13] JC Schroeder: Yeah, me too. Scott, would you just tell us a little bit of about yourself, what you do, what your ministry is specifically.
[00:01:19] Scott DeGroff: Sure. So, in high school, I fell in love with serving the Lord and then carried that through Bible college, carried that into my young twenties. And someone once asked me, "do you ever, do you ever want to be a missionary?" They were trying to figure out what to do with me as a zealous young man. And, they said, do you, do you ever think about being missionary?
[00:01:37] And I instantly said, Nope. And uh, they said, how come? And I said, "North America." And in my mind, there was a discrepancy, like missionary, you had to go out of North America. And I never considered that. Um, I said, no, I'm called to North America. And so for the first 20 years, we really labored away, working with the existing church in local churches [00:02:00] in North America. And then the Lord, um, very vividly, distinctly shifted our focus. Which was an amazing journey, it really was, a journey of years of prayer. And then there were some really significant moments of clarity that the Lord gave along the ways. And, um, and basically we are missionaries now. Uh, we live in a cross cultural context in Freedom, in Watsonville, California. And we're working to establish, see the establishing of one new local work there.
[00:02:29] But we work with discipleship and then the real burden has always been and continues to be the establishing of new works all over North America and this generation. So, yeah, you mentioned the passion for the church, man, if I could, uh, beg God for one thing, it would be that the church would be what it ought to be in this generation. And I can see that we desperately need revival to get there. Like we can't get there in our own strength, which is why we pray. And, but yeah, I hunger for the lost, and then I hunger for the church [00:03:00] to be conformed to the Scriptures, which is kind of my definition of revival anyways. Yep.
[00:03:05] JC Schroeder: Yeah, thank you for just your ministry. And, um, yeah, I, I really appreciate that, you know, the mission field is everywhere, right. And, uh, no matter if it's abroad or at home, um, and just really appreciate you and the Freedom Team, just taking that mission to, to that culture cross cultural context. Yeah, I love that.
[00:03:26] Scott DeGroff: Yeah.
[00:03:27] How to Pray
[00:03:27] JC Schroeder: So Scott, we wanted to talk a little bit about prayer today and, um, wanna talk about the concept of prayer in general a little bit. And then also another ministry that you're involved with is the North American Week of Prayer, which is coming up at the end of April. And so I wanted to talk about those two things. So at least in my mind, uh, I, it made sense to think, talk about, uh, just prayer in general first, and then we can talk about the Week of Prayer. So, I don't know, there's a lot of different things with prayer, but maybe just to think about [00:04:00] this, starting thinking about this, is what would be one thing that a person can do to improve their prayer life. Um, cuz yeah. What, what would be just one thing?
[00:04:12] Scott DeGroff: Yeah.
[00:04:13] JC Schroeder: And if you wanna take it multiple things, that's fine too
[00:04:16] Scott DeGroff: No, that's such a great question. I'm laughing because I'm here this week in Texas. Um, we're gonna teach 11 hours on prayer and I mean, there's just, so it's such a journey with the Lord. But, but, but my answer to that one thing is purpose in your heart to obey what the Scripture says and then ask the Lord like, like Colosians 4:2 says devote yourselves to prayer or continue earnestly in prayer. 1 Peter 4, "be serious in watchful in your prayers." 1 Thessalonians 5, "pray without ceasing." And so if we simply say, "yes Lord" and begin to prioritize obedience to those commands, then, what will happen is the Lord Jesus who loves us more than we [00:05:00] can possibly fathom, when he sees that obedience, then he kicks into gear and thinks this is what I've been waiting for. And he begins to teach and to train and to overcome obstacles. And literally like every believer that would ever hear this, the Lord Jesus will meet them exactly where they are. And then he will lead them forward into a fully Christlike life of prayer. Like it is the will of God for every believer to live in the joy and the burden of a Christlike life of prayer. And so if we say yes to God, if we begin to obey, then, man, he will lead us on. And, yeah, JC I have never discovered anything in my life that's more joyful than prayer because it's the overflow of a love relationship with Jesus Christ. So, man, I want that for God's people just because I just, it really, I don't know how to say this honestly, but, um, kind of stumbled into, by grace, this incredible [00:06:00] treasure house of, of joy and power. And yeah, I really want that for God's people.
[00:06:06] JC Schroeder: Hmm. Hmm. I think for some people, and I guess, I guess I've fallen into this trap as well, that we can think of prayer as like a to-do list. Like it's something I have to do to, to please God, or to, as like a to-do list. But, you know, like you said, it's just that relationship with the Lord and that, and having that joy with him. So I like that idea of purposing in prayer because, I don't know about you, but I, I have fallen into the trap, fallen many traps, but fallen into the trap of like, I don't need, like, it's not required for me to do it every day or, uh, at this set hour. And so, uh, kind of a like anti legalistic sort of bent, like I'm gonna be free and pray when, you know, I feel led by the Spirit or something like that. And that's, that's good, but also like I'm a person that [00:07:00] needs discipline and, uh, so I I've really been trying to do that more and found that to be very beneficial. So
[00:07:07] Scott DeGroff: I, um, In John 15, it says exactly what you just said. And so in verse seven, uh, the Lord Jesus gives an incredible promise about, about those who pray. And then in verse 16, he kind of repeats it. You know, basically saying, ask whatever you want in my name. And the Father will give it to you. And then between those two incredible promises, you have "abide in my love." Yeah, obedience, right? Which is what I was trying to emphasize that, that, um, we can't even say we love God unless we're obeying him. And then friendship no longer do I call you slaves. Right, a slave does not know what his master is doing and fullness of joy. And if we could just wrap our heads around the fact that like, JC, I, I didn't see you when you were engaged, but I'm guessing that you were exploding with joy at the prospect of marrying your now wife, right?
[00:07:59] JC Schroeder: Mm-hmm
[00:07:59] Scott DeGroff: [00:08:00] Oh, if we could just shift from the obligation of prayer to the privilege of that love relationship, then the people of God would discover what, what, from God's perspective, what prayer really is. Yeah.
[00:08:13] JC Schroeder: Hmm. Yeah. Amen. Amen. So, what would you say to a person who, with that of, 'cause sometimes it doesn't feel joyful to pray. So some sometimes for us, whether it's just our normal life or we're going through something difficult, it feels very difficult to pray. How, how do we cross that divide besides just like the brute, like I'm going to pray today? What would you, what would you say to the someone who's just like really struggling in that aspect?
[00:08:43] Scott DeGroff: Oh, that's such a good question. And so I would say that this is a journey and there are many journeys like this, but prayer is a journey where the shield of faith shows itself to be essential, that we have to say, we believe God. And so we take him at [00:09:00] his word. "Ask and you'll receive, seek, and you'll find, knock on the door, be answered unto you." And again, John 15, you know, I'm, I'm telling you this, in the context of two exhortations on prayer, I'm telling you this so that your joy might be, might be full. My joy might be in you, your joy might be full. And so we believe God. And, and if our experience on a given day doesn't match all that we see, then we hold onto our shield of faith and we press on. I would kind of pin it on this little phrase, that the discipline of prayer gives birth to the joy and the lifestyle of prayer. Right. So, so it's a fundamentally, we, we say, I believe what God has said about prayer in my Bible. Therefore, I am going to make prayer the same kind of priority in my life that I see it was in Christ's life and in the apostle Paul's life and in Peter's life and in the apostle John's life. And so therefore in faith I'm to press on and, um, on one day I'll experience [00:10:00] this, the next day, it'll be so totally different, but I'm gonna believe God every step of the way.
[00:10:06] JC Schroeder: That's good. That's good. Um, what would be the, the content of a prayer? Cause I think another struggle that people have, I wanna obey the Lord. I wanna go in faith, like you just said, but then. I'm praying and then I'm then I think, okay, I've been praying for a long time, then you look at your watch and it's been a minute.
[00:10:27] Scott DeGroff: Yes.
[00:10:29] JC Schroeder: Like, how, how do you make that like transition? Not that like, time is everything, but how do you, have a deeper, deeper conversation, if you will, with the Lord. What sort of things should we pray for besides like, Or not besides, but like along with others or for ourselves, how do, how, how would you say that we would go about that?
[00:10:50] Scott DeGroff: Sure. Yeah. Lord helped me to, I don't always think the best systematically in, in my brain, but there are so many things that are helpful along the way. Um, the greatest way [00:11:00] that I've ever discovered to learn to pray effectually or effectively is to study the prayers of Scripture. And so what did Elijah pray about? What did Elisha pray about? What did Samuel pray about? What did Hannah pray about? Ezra, Nemiah, king David, and then into the New Testament is so beautiful. Like what did Jesus care enough to pray about? We have his high priestly prayer in John 17. Like we can listen to the second member of the Godhead talking to the first member of the Godhead recorded in John 17. And, and what was the content of his prayer and, and that can shape our prayers. Just this last week, what, what, oh, no, sorry, it's been a week and a half. Um, what stood out to me so strongly was 2 Thessalonians 1. And that the prayer that Paul, he both, he both praised them, um, at the beginning of the chapter and then has this beautiful two verse prayer at the end of 2 Thessalonians 1.
[00:11:53] And, um, so learning in those prayers is incredibly helpful. Yeah, and then I would also say on a practical level [00:12:00] I remember this really well. Um, we started praying because we saw a downward trend in the church. We were really troubled by what we saw in the church, and maybe that was limited to our circles, but I kind of doubt that. I think it's just an observable downward trend in the church in North America. And so that got us praying and, and, um, I was, I, I actually asked the Lord to lead me and he did. Um, so I was praying Monday through Friday with five different guys, one guy each day. And, and praying with others was incredibly instructive and then incredibly helpful to me. And I remember this is a praise and this is of course all by grace, but I remember when it dawned on me, um, I'm stronger in praying with other people, like way stronger in praying with other people than I am praying on my own. And I realized, oh, that's a sign of immaturity. Cause the Lord Jesus prayed the, the longest when he was on his own. And then he prayed [00:13:00] medium length prayers in small groups, and then he prayed really short prayers in public. And, um, so I remember asking the Lord to grow me and, um, he actually has done that by grace. Which is, which is a real praise, but, but I remember asking myself, should I feel guilty that this is such a help?
[00:13:16] And looking back now, I realize, oh no, that was an essential step in the process. Like it was really helpful. Yeah, so the prayers of Scripture, meditating on those prayers. I like even including prayer in my Bible reading. Like, so being willing, not just having the goal of getting through, like whatever we do, four chapters, eight chapters, I know several people that are doing 12 chapters, but being willing to stop at any given point and just talk to the Lord about that or pray, for someone that, that the Lord brings to mind as a result, as a result of what you're learning. Yeah. Yeah. Those things have helped me for sure.
[00:13:54] JC Schroeder: Yeah. I, I love how the Lord has brought us into the church to, to, [00:14:00] as a community, to, to help each other with that when we don't feel like praying or when we don't know how to pray. And then I, I really have enjoyed the last last year, year or two of appropriating, uh, the prayers of the Bible. And there's nothing wrong with praying for specific requests for individuals. I think that's really, um, biblical and that's really great, but what I've been impressed by with like the prayers of Paul is that he doesn't pray like that. You know, that you, that you, uh, your dog gets better or something like that. Although the Lord cares about that, but he, he just has these deep intimate prayers about people's spiritual lives that they would grow in the knowledge of the Lord that they would, that they would live worthy lives for him. And I don't know, maybe it's just, maybe it's just my sinfulness like that, I haven't prayed like that before. And, um, yeah, I really love those types of [00:15:00] prayers. And I love the Psalms too. Like Psalms are the, the prayer book for, for the church, uh, for his people and yeah.
[00:15:10] Scott DeGroff: Amen. Yeah, that's by far the greatest way for sure. Yeah, using the Scripture.
[00:15:18] JC Schroeder: Hmm. I love too, this is maybe a tangent, but I love too just the, with the Psalms of all the diverse ways that the psalmists pray. And how open they are about their struggles and they're not putting on spiritual airs. They're very open with their, their anger, with their frustrations. And they give that to the Lord and the Lord, you know, Lord is happy to receive that. So I, I love, I love, uh, love the I've been really enjoying the Psalms lately. Yeah, they've been awesome.
[00:15:50] Scott DeGroff: That's great.
[00:15:52] The North American Week of Prayer
[00:15:52] JC Schroeder: Okay, so thank you, Scott. That's that's really, uh, I think that's helpful. Maybe we can talk about the, this upcoming event, [00:16:00] ministry that you're a part of as well with the North American Week of Prayer. Can you tell, tell us a little bit about what that is?
[00:16:07] Scott DeGroff: Sure. Um, so we, we started out moving it a couple times, but pretty early on, we settled into hosting it the last full week of April, so that people could predict it and set aside time for it. And again, I, I mentioned that we had observed a downward trend, at least from everything we could see, there was a downward trend in the church in North America. And so our first, our first thing we tried to do was we tried to preach harder. Uh, we tried to study harder. Um, we tried to work harder and, um, none of that was working. And it, it's interesting looking back, what the Lord taught us is that, uh, apart from me, you can do nothing. He finally showed us that we are in a desperate place. Um, I remember where I wouldn't even have used that word desperate. I would've thought that sounds kind of radical, you know. But he showed us that we are in a desperate place. And so what we did [00:17:00] is we covenanted together um, in the presence of God to pray, um, every day. So I mentioned the five guys and then, uh, different than that, there was, there was this, this covenant, um, we are gonna pray together every day. And please let me be quick to say sometimes it was 10 minutes, uh, because, because we were both in airports somewhere and we just had 10 minutes that day. But there were other times that, um, we were. That we were so burdened that, uh, we would drive and we would meet at a motel and, um, and we would check in at 2:00 PM and then we would pray until checkout at 11:00 PM or 11:00 AM the next day. And, um, and we did that for 18 months. And, um, yeah, it was a, it was a glorious time, but it was such a hard time that I remember saying to the Lord, I don't know how long I can do this. Um, Uh, do you know that emotional feeling where when you attend the funeral of a [00:18:00] dearly loved one?
[00:18:01] JC Schroeder: Hmm.
[00:18:01] Scott DeGroff: Um, it was kind of like that every day, like, you'd begin your day, pouring your heart out to the Lord, and then you would feel emotionally spent, like I think a fair word to describe it would be travail. And the Lord was allowing us to serve him. We didn't even know what travail was. In fact, we knew incredibly little about prayer or how to have an all night prayer meeting. We didn't know. We like, it was amazing. It's like little kindergartners, just following a perfect Savior, you know? Um, Anyways. Um, but I remember we said day after day after day after day, Lord, we will not, uh, lift a pinky until you make it so clear that that little men like us can follow it. Because if you leave us room to mess it up, then we'll mess it up and we'll rob you of glory. We just, we will not like we've had enough of things that we've tried to do. Um, we are only gonna wait on you and when you make it clear, then we'll move. And the Lord did, uh, you could say providentially, if [00:19:00] you're trying to be cautious, I think it would be fair to say he miraculously made it clear that that this is a tool that he wanted started.
[00:19:07] In fact, a gentleman, uh, who is an incredible prayer warrior. He wrote a letter that I'll never throw away in the will of the Lord. And it said it could somebody please call for a week of prayer where the people of God can come together and and cry out for the revival that we desperately need. And, and so we agreed together that little group, we agreed together that, that the Lord had confirmed it. And then we, we formed a little committee and we just started to pray and started to make a few little plans. Again, the it's it I've, I've called it, this is no offense to any other committee that I'm on, but, um, I've called it the greatest committee in the world, because we get together, uh, once a year or, and no, we do talk and pray besides that, but we physically get together once a year outside of the North American Week of Prayer. [00:20:00] And for three days, probably 90% of what we do is pray. And so we're seeking the Lord, in his, his leadership in terms of a theme, yeah, speakers, all of that. And then, um, yeah, it's just such a joyful time of seeking the Lord and then the Lord, uh, you can tell at the end of every time we do that, that the Lord has led and, um, yeah.
[00:20:21] So that gives birth to the North American Week of Prayer. This year, April 25-29 in south Florida. Yeah, I, by grace I've been saved for 42 years, and I repented of hypocrisy and worldliness that I could list a bunch of other things, 32 years ago, and in my life of walking with the Lord by grace and serving the Lord by grace, I've never in my life, seen the Lord use anything so powerfully as he uses prayer. Now I know a different servant would to have a different, a different testimony, you know? Um, yeah. And I'm good with that. I like every testimony that's of God, [00:21:00] but, but I never have seen the Lord use anything so wonderfully as he uses prayer. It, you know, 2 Corinthians 3 says it when we take the time to sit and gaze at the glory of Christ, we're changed.
[00:21:11] And, um, it's funny cuz the primary thing that we're seeking is not a byproduct. I mean, the primary thing we're seeking is a desperately needed fresh move of God in North America in our day. Yet there's this incredible byproduct that I've seen hundreds of leaders around North America changed. Yeah, like men that are so capable in their Bibles, so admirable and they would stand up at the North American Week of Prayer. And they'd say the Lord has only really taught me to pray in the last two years. And they realized what they were doing before was a list. Right. And supplication is good. It's biblical, but what the Lord leads them into, again, as they obey, these admonitions and make prayer, the priority that it was in Christ's life, what the Lord leads them into, his communion [00:22:00] and fellowship and it'll include adoration and worship and supplication and travail and you know, all the other thanksgiving, all the other forms of prayer too. Yeah.
[00:22:10] JC Schroeder: So if a person wanted to be involved with the Week of Prayer, American Week of Prayer, how would they do that? So you mentioned it's in Florida, they could come to Florida? Could they come, uh, remotely?
[00:22:23] Scott DeGroff: Yes. So, so we have watched the Lord, um, year one, our sense. And I know these things are like the holy things of God. I mean, I say this fearfully, but year one, our strong sense is that the Lord by grace alone got us on the same square of the sidewalk is him. And, um, like rather than Christ being outside the door knocking, or like whatever illustration you want to use, like, our sense is, okay, we're we're with the Lord. And then every year he's marched us forward. COVID was was obviously a pretty drastic change. And so a centralized location was canceled, but COVID effectually launch of the North American Week of Prayer [00:23:00] into North America as a whole. And I had never even heard of Zoom before COVID and yet. Um, you, I don't wanna say number, cuz I, I don't wanna, I don't wanna be wrong. Again, these things are the holy things of God, but there were so many, uh, so many prayer meetings that started. And in that year, the North American Week of Prayer was, was exclusively online on Zoom.
[00:23:24] And, um, yeah, and so really there's three primary ways to participate now. You could come to south Florida, which is, which is a life changing experience for many that have attended. And we've said from the beginning, prayer is more caught than taught and like I'm down here teaching on prayer. I'm not against teaching on prayer, but, but still, it, it, there is a sense in which it's more caught than it is taught. So for anybody that can come, that's a glorious, that's a glorious privilege. And then you can, you can either join, like the second way would be you could join an [00:24:00] online prayer meeting. There's some prayer meeting, in fact, there's a good number of prayer meetings that have been going on for two years since COVID started. And there's still going on strong. Um, there's one per meeting here in North America. I love this. I, I, this just awesome. Um, they meet every day to pray.
[00:24:17] JC Schroeder: Wow.
[00:24:17] Scott DeGroff: Yeah, I just love it. This band of little prayer warriors that are, are just go determined. I will not let you go until you bless me and they're just seeking God. Um, so that'd be the second way is to join an online prayer meeting. And then the third way would be, um, to host. And we are actively praying for, uh, not to put you on the spot, but the JC Schroeders of the world. Um, and, and we're praying, um, yes, we would love for the JC Schroeders of the world to come to south Florida, like the fellowship, the learning, the, the it's a, it's a, it's a New Testament, spiritual battle. And to be able to fight that with brothers and sisters in prayer is an incredible privilege. But we also need the [00:25:00] JC Schroeders of the world to stay home and to give leadership. And it's amazing how simple leadership is.
[00:25:06] So the North American Week of Prayer will put out videos one on Monday evening, uh, two on Friday, or sorry, Friday two on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, two on Thursday, one on Friday. And giving leadership is so simple. It's saying, Hey, I'm going to meet here. We're gonna watch the video. And then we're gonna pray as long as the Lord wants us to. And, um, JC, I'm happy to say this. This was been a total shock in the last couple years, as I've learned to walk with God. And as I've, as I've obeyed by grace alone, more and more, I find that praying in the Spirit, which is Ephesians 6 and Jude 20-21, uses that term praying in the Spirit. I find that my prayers are shorter and shorter. And, yeah. Now, now there definitely are times that the Lord leads into travail, like long, really fighting spiritual battles and prayer. And that can take, that can take long periods of time. And yet, um, [00:26:00] man leadership in prayer could be so simple as just a leader of the people of God saying we're gonna meet every night. We're gonna watch the first video pray as long as or short as the Lord wants. We'll watch the second video pray as long as short as the Lord wants, and then we're gonna believe God to lead us on. And he said, he's asking you we'll receive. So we believe him and we're gonna prioritize asking.
[00:26:23] JC Schroeder: Hmm. that's amazing. That's awesome.
[00:26:25] Scott DeGroff: Hmm.
[00:26:26] JC Schroeder: So, do you know the website for the North American Week of Prayer.
[00:26:31] Scott DeGroff: Yes. It's naweekofprayer.com.
[00:26:34] JC Schroeder: Hmm. Awesome. Awesome. I forgot to write that one down. So, um, if you're interested in any of those, you can check out, uh, the website for, for more info and that's April 25 through 29, right? Yeah.
[00:26:48] Conclusion
[00:26:48] JC Schroeder: Well, Scott, thank you so much for coming on here and thank you for your words of wisdom, uh, on prayer and thank you for your work and others as well, in setting up the Week of Prayer. And [00:27:00] we'll pray that the Lord will continue to bless it. And just that our hearts would draw closer to the Lord. That, um, yeah, like, like Paul says, just that we would be that we would walk worthy, um, of what he calls us to, to be, and to do so. Thank you so much, Scott. You are the you're the best. Anything else you wanna, uh, mention or plug or anything of that nature?
[00:27:23] Scott DeGroff: No, I don't think so. Yeah. Thank you for the privilege of coming on. Um, Lord, help us to discover and then to be faithful in, uh, discover the joy of, and then be faithful in leading Christlike lives of prayer.
[00:27:35] JC Schroeder: Yeah. Amen. Amen.
[00:27:36] Outro
[00:27:36] JC Schroeder: That's it for today. My thanks again to Scott for coming on and his encouragement. I would really encourage you to check out the North American Week of Prayer. Coming up April 25th to 29th. The link is in the show notes. If you enjoy today's episode, would you mind giving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? It really just does [00:28:00] help others find this content. You can sign up to receive episodes, emailed directly to you at bitesizeseminary.com. And you can connect with me there or on Facebook, or Twitter. All the links are in the show notes below. Thanks for listening.